Holiday at the zoo
by SunshineShal
Summary: When animals at the zoo Kylie works at start acting strangely, she knows that something unusual is going on. What she wasn't expecting it to be was that aliens would be involved. It's up to the Doctor and her to find out what's going on and stop it.
1. Chapter 1

**I blame this one on a recent trip to the zoo. And by recent, I mean last Monday. When I went with my friend. Because of course 2 adult women would go to the zoo when they both have a day off from work. I'd also like to thank her for the title. And I know the summary is bad, but it's almost 3:30 am. Anyways, I'll shut up and let you enjoy.**

You know how when you're a kid, you believe monsters are everywhere? Under the bed, in the closet, in the dark. So, your parents "get rid" of the monsters for you every night. Then, as you grow up, you realize that monsters don't exist and you go on with your life. Well, what if I were to tell you that monsters actually do exist? They're just not the traditional monsters you think of. No. Monsters are real. It's just the real monsters (beside the fact that people can be monsters), are aliens. The only reason we don't really see them is because of one man. A man who's actually not really a man but a centuries old alien who's dedicated himself to saving the human race time and time again because he loves our planet and wants to protect it from the aliens who invade our planet. Now, you're probably wondering how I know this. It's not because I'm an all seeing psychic or anything like that. I'm as normal as anyone. Ok, maybe not exactly normal because I'm extremely awkward and weird and clumsy but that's beside the point. For all intents and purposes, I'm a 100% normal 26 year old American woman. Or, at least I was. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I should probably tell you how I, Kylie Hodges got into this situation that changed my whole life.

That day had started off normally. I got ready for my job at the local zoo, even though we were closed today, I was in today for a bit. I helped feed the animals and take care of them. Which thrilled this animal lover because I was able to interact with so many animals, even the lions, although I made sure to be extremely careful and take caution so I wouldn't be eaten. However, for the past couple of days, I'd noticed an odd change in the animals. It seemed like they were a bit more aggressive than usual. No one else could figure out what was going on, but they just stopped trying and chalked it up to a rapid change in the weather. It had been in the 60's, which was unusual for February. I knew that the unseasonably warm weather wouldn't affect them though, especially if it was a type of animal that was from this type of climate. But again, I was the only one who seemed worried about this, well except for my boss. He approached me after I'd just gotten settled in for the day and had an unfamiliar man with him. The man was tall and lanky with spiky brown hair and warm, brown eyes. He was wearing a brown, pinstriped suit and beige converse sneakers under a beige trench coat.

"Kylie, this is the Doctor. He's here from the London zoo to help us figure out what's going on with the animals." My boss said. "Doctor, this is Kylie Hodges. She helps take care of the animals, so she can tell you pretty much what's going on."

"Nice to meet you." I said, shaking the Doctor's hand. "But what? Does everyone call you the Doctor?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Seemed like an odd nickname, but maybe they just had weird nicknames back in England.

"Yup!" He said, cheerfully. "Wellll, I've been called other names, but that one just sticks."

"Ok then." I said.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone now." My boss said. "Why don't you give him a tour of the zoo and maybe he can actually tell us what's wrong with the animals." He said, waving as he walked away.

"So, why don't you tell me what's going on?" The Doctor asked seriously.

I sighed, rubbing my hands through my dark blond bob. "It's weird. Up until a couple of days ago, the animals were fine, but now, it just seems like they're more aggressive. Which, wouldn't be a problem if it were just the more naturally aggressive animals, like the lions, but it's every animal."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Every animal?" He asked, curiously.

I nodded my head. "Yup." I said. "Here, let me show you." I led him over to the lemur enclosure, where the lemurs were normally playing with each other or sunbathing when it was sunny. This time however, 2 were fighting over a log and one had started bearing its teeth and hissing at us. "I mean, maybe I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure that's not normal lemur behavior."

"That is definitely not normal behavior for lemurs." The Doctor said. "Well, maybe during mating season, and even then it wouldn't be that aggressive." He put on a pair of glasses and walked over closer to the enclosure, studying the lemurs' behavior.

I showed him around the other enclosures, even venturing to the big cats. And again, each time we encountered the animals, he'd study the animals behavior. At one point, someone had walked over to ask me a question. I turned around to answer them, but I could have sworn I saw the Doctor pull out something from his pocket and scan the enclosure. When I turned back, however, there was nothing in his hand. I shook my head.

After showing him every animal exhibit, we headed back to the spot where I'd first met him.

"I really hope you can figure out what's wrong with them." I said. "I love these animals and it's concerning me that they're all acting like this."

"I will figure this out. I promise you." The Doctor said, looking me in the eyes. "I don't know what's happening yet, but I can tell you that you're not crazy. There's something going on, but I'm going to figure this out."

As I looked into his eyes though, I noticed something. They seemed to be so full of wisdom, much more than anyone of his age could have seen. They also seemed so ancient and full of sadness. There was something about him that just seemed so unusual, but I couldn't figure it out. I brushed it off.

"It does mean a lot that someone believes me." I said. "I need to do some more rounds, but feel free to look around some more."

"Will do." He said, giving me a grin as he walked away.

That night, I was walking around the zoo, finishing up a few things. I walked over to the tigers, careful not to get too close, and watched as one kept pacing back and forth, letting out a low growl. It seemed almost restless. The other tigers were doing the same thing, almost as if they were following some sound only heard by them.

"What is going on with you?" I whispered. Suddenly, one of the tigers spotted me, and started walking slowing toward me. I squeaked in fear and turned around quickly. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't quick enough. The tiger got a hold of my jacket with her teeth, and started tearing at it. I struggled as I tried to get away, but it wasn't working. I closed my eyes, praying for either a miracle, or that I would have a swift death. Right now, the latter was seeming like it was the option. Luckily for me, I was about to get a miracle. Suddenly, the tiger let me go, as an odd screeching sound was heard. I started running, but tripped over a rock and felt my ankle crack as I fell. I lay sprawled on the ground, trying to get up, but my ankle was in so much pain that I couldn't move. I managed to lift my head up, seeing someone running toward me. As they got closer, I noticed that it was the Doctor.

"Are you ok?" He asked in concern.

"Am I ok?" I asked. "Well let's see. The animals are acting weird, I almost got mauled by a tiger. My jacket's torn. Oh yeah, and let's not forget that I did something to my ankle when I tripped and fell trying to get away from the tiger. So yeah, I'm totally ok." I said sarcastically.

"Blimey, you humans can be snarky sometimes." He said, as he helped me up.

"Well excuse me. I'm in pain. I'm allowed to be-" I stopped as his words hit me. "Wait. I'm sorry. Did you just say, 'you humans?'l I asked staring at him in confusion, completely forgetting about the pain. "Are you saying you're not human?"

"Nope!" He said grinning, clearly enjoying my confusion. "I'm from another planet."


	2. Chapter 2

"Ok. What?!" I asked in surprise, staring at him. "You're telling me that you're an alien?!"

"Time Lord, but yes. I'm an alien." He said, grinning.

Given the fact that I'd never actually met an alien before, this was a new experience. You'd think that I'd be skeptical, which I was a little bit, but I did believe in aliens. With all the things that had happened in the world recently, you couldn't just chalk it up to natural occurrences. But, actually meeting one in person was a little bit weird because he looked human. I was about to respond when a wave a pain washed over me. I hissed and held my ankle.

"Alright, let me see your ankle." The Doctor said, pulling out an odd looking object. It was a tube shaped cylindrical object with a blue tip.

"Are you going to probe me?" I asked, looking at it in concern.

"No I'm not going to probe you." He said, raising an eyebrow. "You've been watching too many science fiction movies." He said, amused.

"Well I'm sorry. I've never met an alien before." I said, gingerly rolling up my pant leg as to not aggravate my already swollen ankle.

"Welll, that you know of." The Doctor said. He bent down and waved the object in his hand near my ankle. It made the same screeching sound I'd heard a few minutes before that scared the tiger away. I watched in fascination as the swelling instantly subsided and the pain went away.

"Whoa." I muttered, as I got up with no problems. "Thanks for that." I said, sighing with relief. "So what's that thing anyways?" I asked, pointing to the thing in his hand.

"Sonic screwdriver." He said, flipping it up in the air and putting it back in his pocket. "Does everything except kill. Oh, and it doesn't open wood. Really should have added that part." He said, mostly to himself.

"Right. Sure." I said.

"I thought you'd be more surprised at the fact that I'm an alien. Most humans are." The Doctor said.

"Ok, I may be a little, but with everything that's been happening on earth, it doesn't really phase me." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Speaking of that, what's happening to the animals, isn't a regular virus or anything like that, is it," I asked.

"Definitely not a virus. Wellll, maybe an alien virus, but I haven't figured that out yet." He said, a bit sheepishly.

"So, basically you have no idea what's going on with them, other than the fact that it is alien in nature. That's just great." I muttered.

"We're going to find out. Come on!" He said, as he started to run.

"Wait, where are we going?!" I yelled, running after him.

"The TARDIS! My spaceship!" He called back.

I continued running after him, wondering why I was even doing this. We eventually got to one of the exhibits, which was closed. They were planning on getting bats in the summer, but for now, it was covered in a white tent. I followed him into the tent, where I encountered a blue box that had the words "Police Public Call Box" on the top. I was a little bit skeptical. It looked pretty small to me.

"Wait, this is your spaceship?" I asked. "How are we both going to fit in there comfortably? It looks too small."

"Really? You can believe I'm not human, but you can't believe that we both can fit in here?" He asked, sounding a bit exasperated. "Come on." He said, unlocking the door.

I walked in hesitantly, expecting to be squished, but I was pleasantly surprised. Really surprised. The room was huge and bathed in a tealish light. The walls were almost gold in color with hexagonal like shapes on them, and there seemed to be some type of console in the middle of the room with buttons and switches. In the middle of that was a glass tube. Needless to say, this was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed as I grinned and my eyes lit up. "It's bigger on the inside! This is so cool!"

"This is the TARDIS." The Doctor said. "Stands for Time and relative dimension in space."

"So then I'm guessing it's a lot more than just a spaceship?" I asked, still looking around in awe.

"Yup! It can travel through space as well as time. Now, hand me your jacket." He said.

"My jacket?" I asked. "Why do you need my jacket?"

"There should be some residue from the tiger's saliva from when it grabbed it. I can use that to analyze where the source is coming from." He said, holding out his hand for my jacket.

I sighed and took off my now ruined jacket. "That's my favorite jacket too." I said sadly, as I handed it to him.

"Down the stairs and take a right." He said, not looking up from the monitor that was situated on the left side of the console. "There's a wardrobe room. I'm sure you can find another jacket."

I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as I followed his instructions. It was a little bit difficult finding it, but I eventually found it. I walked in to the room and stared. There were so many pieces of clothing, some even from different time periods. I eventually came across a jacket that looked very similar to my torn up one and slipped it on. Satisfied, I headed back to the main room, but on my way back, I noticed a few other rooms. I also noted that the hallway had lit up on my way there, and my way back. It was definitely making me a little bit curious, but I assumed that there was a reason. I eventually got back to the main room, where the Doctor appeared to be still analyzing things.

"So, have you found anything yet?" I asked as I joined him.

"Not yet." He sighed, running his hands through his hair, making it stick up even more. "Might take a while. Not to mention how the animals were infected."

At this point, everything was starting to crash down on me. I didn't want to, but I could start to feel myself tear up. I cared for these animals so much and it worried me even more now that I knew aliens were involved. Also, the fact that this had become my life now in just one night wasn't lost on me. I tried to wipe away the tears that were threatening to fall before the Doctor could see me, but he looked up just as I started to wipe my eyes, so that plan didn't work out for me.

"Are you ok?" He asked, with concern in his voice.

"What if we don't figure this out in time?" I asked, my voice shaking. "What's going to happen? I mean, if we don't, they'll most likely start attacking everyone in the zoo. Or worse! Probably everyone in the city!" Ok, maybe I was overthinking, but it could happen. And I was terrified.

The Doctor walked over and looked me straight in the eyes. "Kylie, I promise you. Whoever is causing this, whatever they did to the animals, we'll figure it out and stop them. I need you to trust me on this."

As I looked into those brown eyes, those eyes that seemed so cheery, but at the same time seemed so ancient and weary, I knew that he was right. I don't know what, but something was telling me that we could do it. I eventually took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Ok. You're right." I said, much more calmer.

"'Course I'm right!" He said, cheekily. "Now, this will take a while. I'll let you know what I find out tomorrow."

"Gotcha." I said, opening the door and walking out as he turned back to the monitor. This had definitely been a weird night and I knew that as time passed it would only get weirder.

That night, I kept tossing and turning. I couldn't sleep well, due to the fact that my suspicions had been confirmed and aliens did exist, and that aliens were somehow involved with why the animals were acting strangely. It was an odd thought that I didn't want to dwell on. I was hoping that the Doctor could figure out who it was and why they'd done. I was trying to figure it out as well. What could they have done? Suddenly, I bolted up just before my alarm went off.

"Holy crap! It's the food source!" I said to myself, jumping out of bed.


End file.
